Idaho General FAQ&#039;s

Q - The Future City Competition is supposed to be realistic but also brainstorming ideas for the future so how do you balance reality and creativity?

The students will have been questioned during their presentation about their ideas and any research they did into the possibilities of new technology in the future. Anything is possible but the students should show that they ideas were thought out as to how and why there idea could work and not just because it magically will. The essay and abstract are also good reality checks and the engineer mentor and teacher should work together to get the students to use reasoning and critical thinking in their design.

Q - Can younger students help in building the city?

Younger students are welcome to participate in the computer city design, model design and construction, and essay, however only 6th, 7th and 8th grade students may present at the competition and older students are not allowed to participate at any time throughout the competition.

Q - How many teams can a school bring to the Idaho Regional Competition?

Each school will be permitted to send three teams to the Idaho Regional Competition. All of the teams will give their presentations to groups of judges during the preliminary morning competition. The top five schools will then be asked to give their presentation before the entire audience and another panel of judges to determine the winner and top finishers in the regional competition. Only one team per school will be able to advance to the final round of the regional competition.

Q - Our team started late (did not register until the end of October). Is there any flexibility in the submittal deadlines?

The Future City Competition is intended to be a fun learning experience, however we need to have some deadlines so that the volunteer judges have sufficient time to evaluate the submissions. The deadlines were set up to be as late as practical and still get the submissions judged in time for the January Regional Competition. The deadline for submission of virtual city design is early December. Late submissions will be accepted up to 2 weeks late with a 5 point or 10 point deduction. After 2 weeks, no points will be awarded for the diskvirtual city submission. The city essay deadline is mid December with late essays being accepted with a 5 point deduction up to a week late.